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The Rio artful dodger - the story of the englishman who turned a favela upside down

mazing inn | As I was chatted to Bob we walked around the guesthouse. We started off on the veranda and then made our way throughout the rest of his labyrinthine creation. Through the building’s tortuous corridors, as we spoke about politics and swapped jokes, he explained how he’d built the house.

He built the whole guesthouse; from the floor to the mosaics, which spread from the floor to the ceiling, to the doors and the stairs and, of course, the paintings that adorn practically every wall in the place. According to Bob’s particular take on things, the only purpose of walls is so that you can have somewhere to hang paintings on. Many people have compared him to Gaudí but I don’t even need to ask him about this. Midway through the conversation he brings it up himself:

“People say that the guesthouse looks like a Gaudí building, but they’re wrong, it’s completely different. My inspiration comes from the favela itself, from the landscape in front of me, from the things I see in nature”.

And so we walked our way around the guesthouse until we came to a veranda, at the top of the building. To the left, you can make out the whole of the Flamengo Embankment and Santos Dumont Airport.

“This is a great spot. I can see my friends arriving and then leaving downhearted, all of them crying”, laughs Bob, as we watch a plane taking off, flying close to us.

In the midst of the landscape, you can take in all of Catete, the majestic Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Mountain. To the right, Flamengo, the rest of the favela and the Elite Squad’s headquarters. Suddenly, Bob shouts out, “Good morning!”, and waves to the people at the top of the building opposite. “I’m coming over Bob!”, shouts someone from the other side, who I soon discover is Major Vargas. “I’ll put on another pot of tea!”, exclaims our amiable host.

elite squad | The BOPE’s image in Rio is almost mythical. The black uniform and vehicles, the stern expressions, the heavy weapons they carry and the banner with a knife jutting out of a skull all impose fear and respect. The incredible success of the film Elite Squad which shows the day-to-day reality of life as a member of the BOPE, has only served to reinforce this image. Bob’s relation with the Elite Squad goes way back. To be honest, the Brit was largely responsible for the installation of the troops’ headquarters in the area, after having talked to the then-governor of Rio, Anthony
Garotinho, about the viability of the project. At the time, Bob worked as a BBC correspondent in Brasil. As all politicians love pleasing journalists, especially international ones, Garotinho agreed to the plans. The battalion’s headquarters were inaugurated in 2000, and have gone on to change the face of the favela.

The first result was that drug trafficking in the area dried up. Obviously, no drug trafficker would be crazy enough to set up a drug trading there. The Elite Squad’s speciality is invading the favelas and, to keep in shape, the soldiers use Tavares Bastos as a training ground. The Guardian’s article got it
right when it classified the area as one of the safest in Rio de Janeiro. And I’d go so far as to say one of the safest in the whole of Brasil. We were chatting in the living room, when Major Vargas arrived. Bob introduced us and explained that he was being interviewed.

When we returned to the veranda, the major discreetly turned to me and whispered: “If you’re recording this, you’d better watch your back, got it?”, and went off. I didn’t know whether or not the Major was being serious. The fact is, that after Elite Squad, in which ordinary military police officers were portrayed as being corrupt, the members of the BOPE have been prohibited from giving interviews.

After Major Vargas left, I got talking with Bob about his relationship with the people in the favela and the projects that he had developed there. There are several of them: a pre-natal clinic, a university for senior citizens, an art gallery and a talent agency for the locals, who work as extras in films that take place in the favela. As well as all this, on Friday nights he promotes Jazz at The Maze, a jam session that kicks off against the breathtaking backdrop. Major musicians have played at the venue.